I was in New York City – here’s my story…
April 14, 2001 – My brothers, Charles and Russ, came to visit me in New York City. I toured them around the city and of course, took the twins to the twin towers. I took them up to the top to check out the view from the restaurant ‘Windows on the World’. Below are a few photos from their visit.
Below: Me with my twin brothers, Charles (left) & Russ (right) (yes, I was blond)
Below: At the Windows on the World – a view of the Statue of Liberty through the windows.
Below: A view of the Brooklyn Bridge
Below: Charles and Russ at the Windows on the World WTC
September 6th, 2001 – My mom was in town visiting me (going to college at FIT in New York City) and my grandparents (who live in New Jersey). My mom and I took a Circle Line Boat tour that day around the island of Manhattan to sight see.
Below: a photo of the twin towers that I took from the boat.
September 11, 2001 – early in the morning I left my apartment in Guttenberg, NJ on a bus headed for Times Square/Port Authority. I was going to college at the Fashion Institute of Technology located on 27th and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, and I had a class at 9:00 am.
8:46am the first plane hits the North Tower WTC. My brother, in Wisconsin, happened to be watching the news and so he immediately called my cell phone. At that moment, I was on the bus going through the Lincoln Tunnel so I didn’t get cell phone service. I had no idea what was happening. Once I got off the bus on 42nd Street I rushed underground to the subway to catch a train to 27th Street. I remember passing a lot of people that were pointing south towards something (the WTC) but being a ‘seasoned New Yorker’, I dismissed them as tourists, didn’t look up, and continued rushing on my way.
9:00am I arrive at my class and we are missing our professor.
9:03am the second plane hits the South Tower WTC.
9:05am our Professor arrives who has just come from the school’s media room and informs us that a plane has hit the twin towers. No one seemed to think it was a big deal. But then several students begin receiving cell phone calls from worried parents. A few of us leave the room to go to a classroom next door that has the news coverage on. Terror strikes me and immediately I know this not OK. All I could think and say was “those people need to get out of those buildings… they are going to collapse…” We all just sat and watched in disbelief.
9:21am All bridges and tunnels into Manhattan are closed.
9:37am An airplane crashes into the Pentagon.
9:58am The South Tower WTC falls. 10:28am The North Tower WTC falls. We watch in horror. Cell phone lines are jammed. I am able to reach my mom, who is currently at my grandparents house in New Jersey via a landline at the school. I let her know I am OK. She informs me that all the bridges and tunnels have been shut down so there is no way for me to leave the City.
11:00am All classrooms at the school are closed. All students are shuffled into the auditorium where the live news is being projected onto the screen. I felt so alone and so afraid. I didn’t know what to do or where to go.
11:30am I decide I can’t stay there any longer. My old apartment is a block away and I take the chance that some of my roommates are maybe at home. I am wearing 3 inch high heels. I get to the apartment on 28th and Sixth Avenue and thankfully, they are there. We all sit nervously watching the news. I’m even more freaked out now because no one knows if there will be more attacks. The apartment is only about 5 blocks from the Empire State Building which we hear has also just been evacuated. At this point, I am just really wanting to get off the island of Manhattan to somewhere ‘safer’. One of my friends from school, Susan, also shows up at the apartment seeking refuge. We watch out the windows facing Sixth Avenue as thousands of people walk northwards. There is an eerie silence – no buses, no cars, no horns… Susan is also trying to get back to New Jersey so she and I decide to venture out together to try to find a way home. We hear rumors that some of the dinner cruise boats are taxiing people across the Hudson River. We walk west to Chelsea Piers where we find thousands of people waiting in line to try to get across the river. It’s hot. People are handing out bottles of water. The mood was fairly calm and I was honestly kind of surprised to find how orderly the lines were with no formal organizing. People were talking to each other, which is not normal in NYC. After several hours, Susan and I make it onto a dinner cruise boat. Sitting next to us is a man covered in dust (from the collapsing of the WTC) with an injured leg. We talk with him about what he saw and what he experienced. It was intense.
Once we arrive to the Jersey side of the Hudson River we are left to fend for ourselves. So, I walk almost two miles to where my apartment is, and at this point I’m barefoot. I am grateful to be home safe. I spend the rest of the week glued to the TV trying to process everything, afraid to leave my apartment. I did venture out the next day to walk along the river and took these photos of the Southern tip of Manhattan.
I wish I would’ve taken more pictures during all of this. But I remind myself this was before digital cameras, smart phones and twitter. I wish that I would’ve written a journal when all of this happened to remember more. But – today – 12 years later – here is what I still hold onto from this whole experience.
There were a lot of brave, selfless people that lost their lives that day trying to help other people. Those men and women inspire me. In the days, weeks and months following there were a lot of people that poured themselves out day and night helping at Ground Zero. I felt like the whole event softened New Yorkers and made us a little bit warmer, a little more loving. 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” I love the lyrics from Alan Jackson’s song about September 11th – “Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us, and the greatest is love.”
I remember that I am not promised today. I am not promised tomorrow. I am entitled to nothing. And that ultimately, my safety and my peace are in Christ. John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
You can read the full timeline from September 11th on Wikipedia here of the morning.
Here’s the video of Alan Jackson singing his song live
